Being New York's College Team is great for sponsors and making money. It doesn't work out so well for football.

Much has been made of Syracuse's efforts to dominate the New York recruiting market, an effort stressed by former head coach Doug Marrone because of his area ties.

It has seemed urgent because of the head-to-head competition for players with Rutgers, one of SU's few peer football schools in the Northeast. And it will certainly feel critical for Syracuse as it continues to pursue Thomas Holley, the top-ranked recruit in the state and one of the highest-rated incoming defensive tackles in the country.

The Orange, after all, can't be a dominant team in the region without at least dominating their state's recruiting. Or at least that's the perception.

Based on an analysis of the New York players rated as blue chip prospects by Rivals (4 and 5-star), even if the Orange had cornered the New York market on talent it wouldn't have made much of a difference over the past decade.

From 2002 to 2011, New York produced 26 four- or five-star high school players according to Rivals (I chose to use Rivals because it's the service with the longest pedigree).

Syracuse landed four of them: Damien Rhodes, Averrin Collier, Marcus Sales and Lavar Lobdell. Boston College has also grabbed four. Stanford and Notre Dame each have taken two.

Five have been picked in the NFL Draft, but none has been higher than a fifth-round pick, meaning no elite New York player has had an influence at the level of lesser-recruited Ryan Nassib, Justin Pugh or Shamarko Thomas.

Six of those blue-chippers have made all-conference teams. Another six have been arrested either in college or soon after. Two have been implicated in NCAA violations and two others were suspended by their college at some point.

Over the past decade, if you land a top recruit from New York, you've got just about even odds that he'll be an impact player or embarrass your program.

That's not so say Syracuse should just give up on the state. There have been notable misses, particularly at the three-star level.

Ray Rice heading to Rutgers after Paul Pasqualoni's firing looms biggest. Mike Hart went with Michigan, the team he favored in his childhood. The Orange lost NFL players D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Brian Leonard because their siblings went to Virginia and Rutgers, respectively. Syracuse showed too much integrity with linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar, and the Orange passed on local products Latavius Murray and Tyvon Branch.

New York's pickings, though, have been relatively slim. So if the Orange lands a three-star prospect from Illinois, Pennsylvania or New Jersey instead of a four-star from New York, don't panic.

The other states are probably equally important to Syracuse's future, and the battle for Manhattan remains far more important to SU's perception than Syracuse's on-field product.